Boulder Lake

Our team in Longmont took us on a trip to Boulder Falls and Lake.

Fishing is a favourite time pass among the americans. You get fishing accessories and a fishing map in Walmart. I caught one guy in the frame in here.

ക്യാമറ പൂജ Canon EOS 450D First Shot!

ഞാൻ പുതിയ ക്യാമറ ഒരു ഗണപതിയുടെ പടം എടുത്ത് പൂജ കഴിചു കൊണ്ടു തുടങ്ങി.

പടം എടുക്കാൻ ഗണപതിയുടെ വാൾപേപ്പറാണു കിട്ടിയതു.

ആരതി ഉഴിഞ്ഞാൽ ഫയർ അലാറം അടിക്കുന്ന നാട്ടിൽ ഇതു തന്നെ ചെയ്യാൻ പറ്റിയതു ഭാഗ്യം.

Tomotoes and a chilly

My DSC H1 is still young enough for a some more shots. Red and green make a good combination.

Bad News .... and .... Good News

My Sony DSC H1, which was my companion for 2 and a half years has developed some problems. Sometimes it does not start up and the battery is getting drained up so fast. Something has gone wrong. I guess water has gone into the camera body, while we were in Mahabaleshwar. I am not sure if repairing it would solve the issue. Anyway, I just upgraded myself. I bought a Canon EOS Rebel XSi (a.k.a Kiss X2 Digital or EOS 450D, for those who are not comfortable with the word 'rebel' :) ...) . I am still waiting for the shipment. But I am all excited about owning a Digital SLR. I will have better control over my shots now.

Some Deer Thoughts

Our visit to estes park and the narrow escape from a deer running over us made me curious to gather some information about deers. This page is rather interesting. http://www.swmnv.com/deer_facts.htm

In malayalam, deer("maan") is synonymous to a totally harmless being. (as in "Paavam Maan"). Well, it looks to me that the real picture is much different.

* Deer establish a territory and will not leave it.

* Deer are known to starve rather than leave their domain.
"Valiya vaasikkaranaa. Enne konnalum njan povilla" :D.

As per the page above, deer cause heavy damage to crops, vehicles, people, which amounts to more than 100 million US dollars annually !!!.

Next time I compare someone to a deer, I would rather have these in my mind :D.

I'm ready for my next shot

This is taken from Estes park, Colorado. This green piece of land is a golf course ( as is obvious from the photo) and a habitat for deer.

Yeah...you are in Kerala

Hmm... this is what you would most likely see in kerala, if you look up the heavens .... :)

Supposed to be very simple, ordinary view. But then, simplicity is a style of its own.

Chennai.. Second week Running successfully ;)

Internet connectivity is limited in here :(
Those IT guys in office have told me not to use USB devices anymore in office. I am thinking of going for BSNL USB internet, or Tata Indicomm Photon. Looks like it will take me some time to settle here in Chennai.

Rain ... Green... Web

After a rain... On some biking trip ..

This web which would normally have been invisible came out beautiful and I did not miss the chance here :)

The eternal Waves

No two waves are same, everytime, they come afresh, in a new pattern, in a new style. And the best part is, they never end. And even better that you never get bored staring at it.

Khadakwasla Dam

We were on our way to Panshet for boating. Khadakwasla is on the way to Panshet. We halted for sometime in Khadakwasla to click some pictures and bend our backs.
This dam was built during the British era, and is one of the 3 main dams that supply water to pune city.

Bullock Cart

These eco friendly carts are a rare sight these days. This bullock cart is carrying tender coconuts to the beach.

Kaashid beach is indeed an eco friendly beach.

A Rose Hibiscus

Though Rose is my favourite subject, I end up shooting more hibiscuses than roses. Availability could be one reason. This one was shot in Jithesh's house in Cochin.

Cloud nine ...

No. I was definitely not on cloud nine. After all, supporting UAT and Production in Champaign is not something to cheer about.
This photo was taken on an American Eagle flight from Chicago to Champaign. These small flights carry around 30 people on board and will fly just above the clouds.

Now this is not a 'sitting in a moving car' shot. This is bigger :).

Ripe...

This photo was taken on AT&T Project Event to Hans Adventure Resorts in Kolad.

I did some photoshop work to edit the background.

സ്വാഗതം ..

വടകരയിലെ ക്രിഷ്ണക്രുപ കല്യാണ മണ്ഡപത്തിന്റെ മുന്നിലുള്ളതാണ് ഈ പ്രതിമകള്‍ .
See the tricolur formation :).

Freeways

This is another 'sitting in a moving car' shot.I wonder when will India have roads like those in Developed Countries.
Freeways do not have any traffic signals, and one you hit a freeway, you are free from traffic (the slow moving ones and the signals). I drove all the way from Schaumburg near Chicago to Champaign all alone, (Garmin GPS assisting me with the directions), in less than 3 hours. And I never had to slow anywhere in those free ways strech of almost 150 miles, ie around 250 kms. I can not imagine atleast for the time being in India, driving in cruise mode, at 70+ miles per hour continuously for more than 2 hours.

Good morning !!

This photo was captured sitting in a car on the mumbai-pune express highway in a december morning. Jithesh and Me were going to mumbai to pick up anoop from the airport. I could not frame the photograph properly, since the car was moving. I could have removed the electric post from the frame to make it better. But still, I think, it is a good shot.

Road to Freedom

I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment.

About the photograph: On the way to Toseghar water falls, near Satara. Amdocs Bikers had a trip to this place on a rainy day. It was real fun. Biking in the rain is exciting.

Beauty, like a wet lady in trinkets of jewellery

White hibiscus looks more beautiful than her red counterpart. And, some showers on her adds to her beauty.
I know the background has clutter, which diminishes the overall beauty of the photograph. Well, I am learning....

Preparing for a new dawn

This photo was taken on Kaashid beach on Sprint Project Event. That was one of the most enjoyed project party's I ever had.
EGO is one word that I am most uncomfortable with, and you never can spot 'ego' in the sprint team. Miss you 'Sprint' !!!.

A peaceful volcano !!

Cenia is what they call this flower in Kerala. Did I spell it right??

This flower looks very much like a volcanic eruption. Wish volcano eruptions were this peaceful and beautiful.

Let me check if it is ripe?

This cute little Squirrel (I dont know how to distinguish him from other squirrels..) owns all the jack fruit in my house. After he tastes it and has enough of it for himself, we get our share if it

oru chempaneer pooviruthu njan omale

ഒരു ചെമ്പനീര്‍ പൂവിറുത്തു ഞാനോമലേ
ഒരു വേള നിന്‍ നേര്‍ക്കു നീട്ടിയില്ലാ
എങ്കിലും എങ്ങനേ നീ അറിഞ്ഞൂ
എന്റെ ചെമ്പനീര്‍ പൂക്കുന്നതായ് നിനക്കായ്
സുഗന്ധം പരത്തുന്നതായ് നിനക്കായ്



malayalam words for those who have a hard time reading it..

Oru Chembaneer Pooviruthu njanomale
Oru vela nin nerkku neettiyilla
Enkilum engane nee arinju
Ente chembaneer pookkunnathaay ninakkaay
Sungandam parathunnathaay ninakkaay


This is a beautiful song by Unnimenon in the malayalm film Sthithi . Lyrics by Prabha Varma.
Translations can never match the exact meaning. But in short these beautilful lines mean"I never offered you a Rose. But I wonder how you came to know my roses blossom and emanates scent only for you"

Love...Abort (A) Retry(R) Ignore (I) Fail(F)?

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart

But the very next day, You gave it away

This year, to save me from tears

I'll give it to someone special

(George Michael - Last Christmas)

UmmHmmmm.. ..I did not break my heart. I am just the photographer here.... :)
This is dedicated to my friend and younger brother in Pune. I dont want to name him though. Life,.. sometimes throws challenges at you which will require lot of courage to fight back.. But it is indeed these challenges that make life worth living, every moment of it interesting. They make you stronger day by day, only if you choose to face them. I want my friend to become stronger. I have faith in him.
Love can make you blind. It can make you open your eyes to reality as well. But choosing to be blind in love is no excuse to one's self for forgetting to live.

FootNote:- About the caption:- I have had my hands on 386 and 586 machines running DOS.

My Life.. CTRL+C, CTRL+V

Yes.. you guessed it right. I am another one of those smart kids in the software world. And these two key combinations are true blessings from God to a software engineer. This saves lot of time and energy, makes you available for another cup of tea. :).
In vatakara, some cousin brothers of mine, used to remove the alphabet keys from keyboard and then arrange it in some different order, in the cyber cafes. They would then shift to the other PC and watch the next person who would sit in front of the altered keyboard. Poor chap, if he doesn't know to type, would be in hell of a time trying to figure out why does p get printed as b. You have to watch it on your own. It is real fun. Desperation, anger, shame,.. ...you name it, and you have it in front of your eyes. Different people react differently and you will get enough events for 10 episodes of 'MTV bakra' in half a day.

Well, I had submitted this photograph for a photography contest in my office and managed a "Photographers choice" prize. I am yet to collect my prize. But this is the first time ever I win a photography contest and I am so happy about it. This incident has inspired me to start this blog as well.

WAX JAMBU !!

This photograph is taken right after a rain, in front my home in Kerala. We call this fruit 'Chaampakka' in malayalam. I was googling the english term for this fruit and the name sounded very funny. "Wax Jambu".
There was a guy from trivandrum in our group of mallus in Syntel, six feet tall, and enough 'size' to match his height. Somebody named him Jambu (during the good old college days), relating to the character Jambavan of the Ramayana, and we continued the tradition. Jambu himself was happy to be addressed so. He was an unpredictable character, who is normally very calm and silent, but you never know when he breaks his shackles and bursts out. But I like the character. Good at heart in simle words.. :)
This one, 'wax jambu' alias Chaampakka is a tasty little fruit. In my neighbourhood, Praveen and Praveesh from 'Kayyala', had a Chaampamaram in front of their house and the little tree would almost all the time be full of this fruit. I enjoyed my childhood eating a lot of this in 'Kayyala'. My visits to Soman maman in Perambra would also fetch me lot of Champakka to make my taste buds happy. Perambra champakkas were as red as the roses below and were very sweet.
For those of you, who got a mouthful of water looking at the photo,... please excuse me.. I ate all of them.. alone !!! :P.

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue..

Roses: one of my favourite subjects. No no.. I am not doing a research on roses. 'Subject' as in photographic terms :).
Riju, my room-mate got this bouquet on his birthday. I sprinkled some water on it and captured the beauty. Roses have a charm of their own, which nothing else can match, a synonym for love. I remember the high school english grammer books teaching simile and metaphor, "My love is like a red red rose", "My love is a red red rose". Explaining the 'figure of speech' can't be better than this example.

Well, I am looking for someone whom I can give a bunch of roses to. A special someone,.......

My life is like a shore, waves of life come and kiss me. But when it retreats, it leaves scars on me

Riju, Jithesh and Me set off to Harihareshwar one fine holiday. Spent some time around harihareshwar and realised that we can not manage a room in there that night, and headed to Srivardhan, making up our minds to give company to the crabs on the beach for the night. Finally at 12 'O clock in the night, we managed to find some accomodation in Srivardhan. This shot was taken on the next day morning on Srivardhan beach. This is a beautiful, calm beach, mountains on one side and some greenery on the beach itself.
Camera Settings: 1/1000 5.0 ISO64 AWB 0EV No Flash